Ahead of the introduction of the State Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill in the Odisha Assembly, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday said GST was a major financial reform which would transform the country into one single market.

"GST will bring about comprehensive reform of the indirect tax regime in the country and a major financial reform to make India a single market," Patnaik said.

A workshop on GST was held for legislators ahead of the two-day special session scheduled to begin on Thursday.

He said as a member of the GST council, Odisha had been actively participating in the design of the legislation.

He said that as a large number of Central and State taxes will be subsumed into the GST, the cascading of taxes will be minimised and this will result in benefits to business and industry as well as consumers.

"The enactment of the State Goods and Service Tax will be the beginning of a journey. We need to ensure that a robust administrative structure and IT based platform is put in place.

"It is imperative to manage the transition process through capacity building of tax officials and the members of trade and industry," Patnaik said.

--IANS

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